Gorbachev gave Russians freedom. They rejected it.

Freedom meaning, freedom of the capital and colonialist countries for pillaging his country to misery. Wow, Roma, you're such a brain.

Your statement "He gave us freedom and free markets and we had NO idea what to do with it. We never had it before" is directly on target. You cant expect people that have never experienced a free market to run it efficiently. And on top of that I think many middle aged people that were climbing the soviet ladder of power and influence and money......suddenly in a system they had NO idea how to navigate. And it pissed them off that THEIR TRURN......THeir assured future simply vanished. It simply all happened far too fast with no infrastructure to support it.

My parents lived in the 90s and it was quite dangerous and sort of a shithole so if they would gotten good education and been successful then they’d be cooked

Thanks!❤

They're never been a Democracy to begin with, Only A painful transition from Absolute Monarch to Rubber-stamp Democracy to Market Socialism but failed in process. Some of them regret of choosing Democracy and also Betraying the Mighty Soviet Union. Besides Freedom, Liberties, and too much Democracy only bring chaos, while society only wants order over chaos.

it is stupid to blame gorby for the ethnic conflicts, the flames of those conflicts were ignited and stoked by USSR (and russian empire) policy long before gorby came to power. it turns out that forcing multiple ethnic groups into a state despite them wanting no part of it, where the architects of the state disproportionately benefit will always breed resentment. The USSR was doomed from the beginning, for a variety of reasons but that was a big one, and due to its authoratarian nature the USSR made it worse at every turn. It is quite ironic in the modern day to look at USSR propaganda where they portrayed the west as old, fragile and dying when the reality was the opposite.

gangweed

Fucking a functioning country over just because is a very goood reason i must say

Lore of Gorbachev gave Russians freedom. They rejected it. Momentum 100

“If you tried to open a business, you would go to jail for….’stealing the socialist workers property’ or something. Essentially stealing the governments shit.” Best statement ever!!!

Gorbachev was a great guy and I think he gets blamed for things he did not do. I was surprised (positively) that Putin went to pay his respects when he passed away. I know Russians in particular don't like him so much but I think he was probably the most important person in the 2nd half of the 20th century. The problem was that very few people were as serious and consequent as him at the time.

How the Soviet people (non-Russians in the former SSRs) see him today? Thanks!

OBS: I don't think that was Gorbachev's plan - it was Yeltsin's plan. The economic problems prior to that were the result of historic processes. Jeffrey Sachs says the "west" let Russia (and most former Warsaew Pact and SSRs fail on purpose). Gen. Wesley Clark seems to confirm that on a couple of his lectures. I'm from Latin America and I have tremendous respect for him because, well, he managed to end the Cold War without a bang - a bang that would have killed me, my family, my friends, my neighbors ...

The West appreciated Gorbachev almost in an emotional way. He looked like a liberator and he had a good image, very modern and friendly compared to his gloomy predecessors.
We were happy for fellow Russian people and hoping for a world of peace.
Little we knew about hard life in Russia, but it was not his fault. USSR could not go on in that way forever.
So basically, yes, he gave Russians freedom and they rejected it, because they were not ready for it, both the people and the elite.

Зиинзад

Кнфдрт

Бизим прсптф

Yes, you are right in everything you are saying here !

He did what could be done. Keep in mind that all communist countries in USSR sphere of influence where brutal dictatorships. There is no way to impose freedom by force and that was the only way those countries were led. If the dictator gave up the power so people could be free then a new dictator appears. With the exception of a few lucky countries that were guided by the west all others fell under new dictatorships in the 90s. Some brutal some disguised as democracies but deeply corrupt.

Muh murican freedom 🥺🥺

gorbachev looks so goofy

My great grandfather was sent to Siberia for opening a flower shop.

Brain dead ,expected from westerner lovers ,the USSR was good ,the Russians were not dumb and they didn’t reject freedom ,they rejected something that would hurt them and it did ,they wanted to keep the USSR but they weren’t allowed to ,you bootlicker 😒

Hard not to see it as "We prefer to be ruled over, told what to do, even if that means we get sent to die en masse on a dictators whims".

Russia with time (and less corruption) would have slowly become at least more like Czech Republic or Poland is now (funny how Russians feel one way about USSR but Poles and Czechs feel the opposite), if not better off given nat resources. Good thing theres no corruption now, Putin is pretty poor himself, oh wait.

Gorby I get the feeling towards him, but how they can look back fondly on Stalin is pretty messed up. I think the same about Mao. Least Cambodians don't idolize Pol Pot.

In Poland 90’ were also hard, but we are grateful for end of communism and Gorbaczow is vied good mostly. We also don’t blame end od polish people state for the bad times, some older do, sometimes people blame politics of 90’ for financial hardship but those more economic educated understand that transformation was needed

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂Горбач был подкоблучником и безпринципным идиотом.
Про Грузию вообще не говорите. 9 апреля в Грузии 1989года не Россия а Американцы устроили . Мы народ Грузии все видем и слышем. Вы Американцы самые противные, лживые безсстыжый народ.

Gorbachev sold russian tanks for some cans of Pepsi

There is some imbalance in this presentation: First we treat Gorbachev as a man of his time talking about processes that had been started decades before (notably his predecessor). But when it comes to Yeltsin suddenly we can't excuse his mistakes because of what came before with Gorbachev?
Seems to me like different standards are applied at different times of the whole story. I'm very much in favour of paying attention to the circumstances of a particular time but then we need to follow through on that. Otherwise it just looks like some badly hidden bias towards Gorbachev and/or others.

He sold ussr to usa for Nobel prize and reagan's used coat and Nancy's frock for his wife Raisa

He gave Russians freedom, but he happened to give it whilst simultaneously crashing the economy. What would the surprise be if people started using their newly found complain abilities to yell and blame the state and the president for this economic crash, eventually leading to the collapse of the state and the coming decades of unmatched crisis and catastrophe? Was he an American agent like many like to say? I can't say for certain. His friendly relationship with the lich demon that was Raegan and his love for American fast food doesn't indicate to anything good, but I can say one thing for certain — He was very, very stupid. His reforms could have worked if he had just employed them more gradually and over the years, instead of all at once. He could've started with slight liberalization and transition to a Yugoslavia-esque market economy, increase foreign investments by a lot, follow it up with the kind act of reunifying Germany ''freeing'' central europe, and THEN start giving people the rights to criticize by the press, AFTER the economic situation had stabilized. It could have worked, and the Soviet Union STILL had so much unrealized potential... And yet it was all wasted. Thanks, Gorby! Coming from the right place (debatable), and with the right intentions of keeping up the massive state to the modern times, but being too dumb to see them through and given a nobel peace prize for un(?)intentionallyruining the lives of millions.

"When the people choose bread between bread and freedom, they ultimately lose everything, including bread. If the people choose freedom, they will have bread grown by themselves and not taken away by anyone." This we can say for this topic. (yeah, nobody's recognised from who is this quote, but this is for good😅)

Bro absolutely hate Yeltsin lol.

I've studied Gorbachev quite a lot ever since this video came out and i have been more into global politics and geopolitics and the one thing i have to say is that it is so weird to me that Gorbachev is the only world leader (of a super power at the time as well) that so many people describe him as naive. It feels very weird and i dont know how i should feel about it. Is it sad that he was on the wrong place, should I be angry that he was at the wrong place, should i be hopeful that once a naive person led a huge country like USSR, i genuinely hav no idea.
He definitely was one of a kind thought that's for sure.

People wanted freedom but not at the expense of the colapse of a country and poverty for the next 10 to 15 years after collapse. They assumed freedom == better living conditions and options. But in some cases this hypothesis isnt true

Gorbhachev purchase by Regan by offering Nobel prize, black reagan's coat and Nancy's frock for Raisa bachev. He has mark of beast on his forehead as a mark of satan. He was not given state funeral for treason reasons.

This came up again in my recommendations, and…. Yeah still good

Gorbachev literally shattered the stability of the country's economy what are you talking about, smug millennial?

It's a different context, but I've heard various American commentators talk about both the right to comfort and its pragmatic limits. Like, you do deserve some security from poverty and predation, but we also need to have grown up conversations about people and situations who make you uncomfortable, and which of them are legitimately threatening.

It wasn't glasnost, perestroika, economic stagnation, or ethnic conflict that brought the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was the breakdown in Pantera's song Domination...

can you describe what you mean by "freedom and democracy"? these are vague terms people use to promote their ideology. people think america has freedom. but what freedom does a homeless amercan have i wonder. what freedom does a poor american have when they see their medical bill. what freedom does a hungry poor american have when they cant buy food. you say freedom, democracy and capitalism makes society better and more prosperous. i would love to see the success of capitalism and freedom in Asia, Africa, Latin America. why does capitalism and freedom only works in europe and north america? what benefit does freedom bring to Indians, indonesians, Filipinos? they all have capitalism and democracy.

Russians have more freedom now. Freedom to pay for things that used to be free.

I may be 2 years late, but I was wondering what your take on the last USSR leader was and I must say I somewhat disagree with this analysis. This is the grass is greener delusion at full display. No Soviet leader especially at that level was a good person, and that is due to the nature of the country being under the thumb of one political party rather than the other way around. For one he actually did support crackdowns, wars, murders and tyranny for most of his political career. He supported that when the wind was blowing in favor of it. He knew it was happening, and he didn't care. At Nuremberg we tried those people as war criminals, no matter what their true conscience was. Gorbachev was guilty of crimes against humanity, and one of these crimes he himself carried out. Like when he chose to suppress the peaceful protests in the Baltics by force.

You should not give him or any other Soviet dictator any credit for anything. It wasn't Gorbachev that gave Russians freedom, Russians themselves were fed up with the Soviet system. Despite how many Russians today seem to forget this, though perhaps they are not the ones who were fed up at the time as many liberal minded and higher educated Russians left after the USSR collapsed. But regardless, Gorbachev like most Soviet bureaucrats was an opportunist, parasitical in nature. The party system of the USSR (and now revived in Russia with United Russia) did not promote effective public servants who cared about their office, it promoted loyalty to the party. Yes men and rubber stampers. By nature if you were not subservient to party you did not make any progress up the party ladder, and Gorbachev rubber stamped his way to the top. Many of the documents he rubberstamped was signing off / "voting" for war crimes and crimes against humanity btw. So he was no revolutionary and no hero, and neither was Yeltsin. They had both been molded by the Soviet system and were men who only held power ATT because they were willing to adhere to it. So when the other shoe dropped they still held the keys to the car, and their next actions with them were always very predictable. They immediately checked where the wind was blowing and then drove in that direction. He didn't lead Russians to water, he sprinted in front of where they were already heading and then pretended that this was what he always intended to do. Nobody ever mentions the mass wildcat strikes that had become common in the Late USSR. From mines to factories. Not to mention the national mood following the traumatizing disaster that was the Afghan War, the protest songs. A sense of loss was in the air even before it formally happened. No one mentions the casual disrespect for Soviet norms and traditions where there used to be none, the cynicism, the increased drug and alcohol use. Letov expresses this mood well in his music. "Its all according to plan", with the plan being Perestroika. It had been an unequivocal failure. What more people need to understand is that for Russians who held onto a tiny shred of belief in the Russian Revolution's promises of peace land and bread, Perestroika was the final referendum on the future of that political project. And when Perestroika failed the wind finally fell quiet. It was over.

Gorbachev created none of the conditions for the litany of things I just mentioned. I could go on but you get the gist. In fact he actually opposed them for most of the time they happened until the wind changed enough. Yes, Gorbachev SAID a lot of good things, but that is because the mood of the Russian public ATT was democracy and the alternative would probably be a civil war somewhere down the line. So he did what his instincts told him to do after decades of power games in the Party, he strategically shifted his political views or "changed his mind". He would continue to do this for the rest of his life, he made a living of doing talks and would frequently say things to get in the media or whatever. Always the opportunist. One thing many Russians wanted that he didn't want and wouldn't budge on until he was forced to was for the USSR to be dissolved and for Russia to be a free country again. He didn't want the USSR to break up because without it he would lose power (something that eventually happened against his will), he claimed he wanted to democratize the USSR and allow countries to leave if they wanted to which was always supposed to be allowed in the USSR through a referendum. So roundabout giving Russia independence but maintaining the structure that keeps him in power. That is why he didn't do anything when countries left. This sounds good on paper but in reality this created huge sectarian issues in countries that left, because Russians in those Republics didn't want to leave Mother Russia so they voted for USSR to continue while the majority ethnic groups like Ukrainians etc voted to leave. This made resentment, the seed of dissent was planted, Russian language parties was formed, they won elections and then of course became subservient to Putin once he became President. This all led to a lot of problems we see today. Had he just dissolved the USSR instead there wouldn't be that resentment from these referendums.

He said he envisioned a reform of the Soviet system and to turn it more into a Social Democratic like system. Socialist in USSR would be a Socialist Democracy. He specifically mentioned the Nordic Model. Opposition parties also formed around that time. But according to him at least the goal was never to dissolve the USSR, he wanted the USSR to be a very progressive democracy, and while that sounds cool he was also a tyrant and his crimes has never been forgotten in the Baltics. Gorbachev won't go down as a hero, he wasn't one. He will go down as a man who followed where the wind was blowing and then followed it all the way down a hole where people wanted him to go along with the USSR. That's it.

Turned 20 while watching this!

All big countries need centralized rule otherwise sh...hits the fan

Truly upset me to lose Gorbachev. He was far from perfect. But he did try to make a difference in the end.

I totally understand the concept of 'comfort.' I didn't understand comfort until I first entered the former Soviet Union as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1997. Comfort means: I have basic utilities, I have basic furniture, I have basic food, I have basic healthcare. On top of that, I have a job that earns me enough money to have a few other things on top of that. Some foreign food, clothes, money for hair, nail and massage appointments, electronic equipment, healthcare on top of the standard. I have a job that allows me to travel overseas. I have a job that allows me to have a car.

Mikhail gorbachev is man who in a world full of politicians tried to become a statesman…..and for that he deserves respect

Russians be like: Saar we wanna keep being slaves saar.

Great video, a very balanced perspective on a very complicated man with a complicated history.